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CHINA Town Hall: Local Connections, National Reflections

[CAS Speaker Series] CHINA Town Hall is a national day of programming designed to provide Americans across the United States and beyond the opportunity to discuss these issues with leading experts. This year’s event will feature a live webcast with Madeleine Albright, the 64th United States Secretary of State. This will be followed by a presentation by our on-site speaker, Melinda Herrold-Menzies of Pitzer College.

In 1997 Dr. Albright was named the 64th, and first female, Secretary of State of the United States. At the time, she was the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. From 1993 to 1997, Dr. Albright served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and was a member of the President’s Cabinet.

Dr. Albright is a professor in the practice of diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She chairs both the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and the Pew Global Attitudes Project. She is also the president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation and a member of an advisory body, the U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Policy Board. In 2012, she was chosen by President Obama to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in recognition of her contributions to international peace and democracy.

Melinda Herrold-Menzies is an associate professor of intercollegiate environmental analysis at Pitzer College and the Claremont Colleges. Her research focuses on environmental policy in China; conflicts over natural resources in China and Russia; and on conservation, gender and community development.

Dr. Herrold-Menzies received her doctorate from the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management of the University of California, Berkeley, and her M.A. in International Relations from Yale University.